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Opinion: Guest Opinions

Boulder broadband built for speed

By Sean Maher and John Tayer

Posted:
06/27/2014 01:00:00 AM MDT

Last Tuesday the Boulder City Council took a welcome step toward making faster internet available for Boulder businesses and residents. They are moving forward a ballot item for this fall which will allow the city to offer access to the 100 or so miles of fiber-optic cable that currently provides higher-speed internet to city offices, the University of Colorado and federal labs. State Senate bill 152, signed into law in 2005, prohibits cities from offering such access without a voter-approved exemption, so the City Council will be going to the voters to get one. With nothing less than our competitive edge as an entrepreneurial innovation hub on the line, we encourage the voters to give it to them.

Secure, affordable ultra-high speed broadband is a required upgrade for any city looking to retain the highly educated, uber-wired, creative talent that drives today's upwardly mobile workforce. One local example is our friend Tim O'Shea, who responded to last September's flood by launching the grassroots online needs and resources matching tool, Boulder Flood Relief. As a local expert on start-up communities, development and network technology O'Shea said, "It is imperative that we have the capability to expand service to diverse start ups and innovative companies. We must recognize the need to have high capacity as a requisite part of doing business in the current professional landscape."

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Beyond the immediate needs of the business community, higher-speed connections stretch the vision of broader opportunities for tomorrow's talent that we are currently developing in our schools.

Community-wide high speed internet access can bridge the digital divide, extends the school day by allowing all kids to access educational resources at home and thereby squeezes the most value out of education tax dollars. The Boulder Valley School District, which has been a leader in bringing better internet connectivity to schools, also has capacity on its taxpayer-built fiber network and is taking note of the city's actions. Chief Information Officer Andrew Moore commented on the school district's potential ability to augment and support the city's assets. This opportunity seems ripe for collaboration.

The University Community Next Generation Innovation Project, or Gig.U, is also tracking Boulder's progress. Gig.U is a broad-based group of leading research universities seeking to accelerate the deployment of ultra high-speed networks to leading U.S. universities and their surrounding communities, understanding that "next-gen networks lead to next-gen opportunities." There is some scrutiny for Boulder to not only take the fastest path to ultra-high speed internet access but to do so seamlessly.

Although the city has already built a fiber backbone, the connections to homes and businesses would still need to be constructed and for this the city would either need to partner with a private company, or pass a separate bond measure in the future. Thus, partnership with the private sector may well represent the fastest, most seamless path to providing service to our residents and students, and to attracting and retaining the companies that drive our innovation economy. And there are partners in the community who could leverage such an opportunity. "We support the decision to provide increased access to bandwidth," said John Real, VP of Strategic Channels at Zayo, "we look forward to opportunities to partner with the city on this initiative."

Many questions remain. Who would those partners be? How much would it cost? How long would it take? Should the city ultimately choose to bring a bond to the taxpayers to build out the system?

Clearly a transparent public process is appropriate for identifying the best path to higher-speed infrastructure. One thing is certain. Approving the exemption to State Law 152 is a step in the right direction.

Sean Maher is Executive Director of Downtown Boulder Inc.; John Tayer is President and CEO of the Boulder Chamber.

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